‘Arsenio Hall Show’ Launches to Promising Numbers Monday

It scores big gains for stations in top markets and beats the broadcast talkshows in demos

Arsenio Hall’s return to the latenight circuit after nearly 20 years produced some promising ratings results on Monday night.

CBS Television Distribution talker “The Arsenio Hall Show” averaged a 1.9 rating/4 share in Nielsen’s 53 metered markets, building from its lead-in on the stations that carried it by 27% (1.5/3). It’s nearly double the 1.0/2 that these stations averaged in the timeslot in September of last year.

The show is anchored by the 17 stations in the Tribune Broadcasting station group, which is also a partner in the show.

In key demos, “Arsenio” scored a 1.0 rating/4 share in adults 18-49 and 1.2/5 in adults 25-54 in Nielsen’s markets with Local People Meters, beating every latenight program on the broadcast networks.

“Arsenio” fared especially well in some of the largest markets, including Los Angeles, where it was the No. 1 show in its 11 p.m. timeslot on KTLA with a 3.2 household rating/9 share — up about 90% from its local news lead-in (1.7/4). Among the top 20 markets, the only ones to fare better were Cleveland (4.6/10) and Chicago (3.3/6).

The premiere of “Arsenio” did a relatively modest 1.6/4 in New York on WPIZ, but that was a nice surge over its lead-in (1.0/2). It was also the No. 1 latenight talk show in the market in both adults 18-49 (1.2 rating) and adults 25-54 (1.5).

In the first episode, Hall welcomed comedian and actor Chris Tucker as his first guest, as well as surprise guests Snoop Dogg and Paula Abdul and a tape appearance by Jay Leno.

“The Arsenio Hall Show” is produced by Eye Productions Inc., in association with Arsenio Hall Communications Ltd. and Octagon Entertainment Productions, and distributed by CBS Television Distribution. Arsenio Hall, John Ferriter and Neal Kendall are executive producers.